My Life is a Mess--- Vampire Academy-- Dimitri POV
by IchBinMise
Summary: This is basically Vampire Academy from Dimitri's perspective, this chapter is one before Vampire Academy, when the guardians are on the way to Seattle to bring back Rose and Lissa. I won't be following the chapters exactly, but it should match up pretty well (: please R
1. Chapter 1

**This is going to be Vampire Academy from Dimitri's perspective. Yeah, i know its been done before but not many people have finished it and most just follow the chapters. I started one chapter before Rose's perspective, it is when the Guardians are on their way to Seattle to bring back Rose and Lissa. This is my first fanfic so please review! ^_^ ... Yeah, that's right, I used four exclamation marks. 'Cause I'm a bad-ass. **

* * *

I sat on the plane looking over the files for what must have been the eightieth time, even though I could probably recite it from memory. To be honest, I just didn't want to look like a loner, which I kind of am, if I must admit.

The other Guardians were all sitting together in little groups, trading battle stories and playing cards. I wouldn't mind joining them, but I didn't know how to go about it. A mixture of social anxiety and intimidation welled up inside me.

I looked down at the files, pulling myself out of the depths of self-pity, telling myself I don't need friends.

The girls in the photographs looked to be about fourteen at the time it was taken, before the car crash that killed the Princess's family. The photograph was taken at an amusement park with Lord André Dragomir, God rest his soul, between the two girls, his arms around their waists. André and Vasilisa were looking straight ahead, but Rosemarie was looking at André out of the corner of her eye. You could see a slight blush on her face. I noticed then that Andre's hand was, in fact, on Rosemarie's ass.

I had heard all the stories about Rosemarie Hathaway. She was rude, disrespectful, a slut, trashy, a party-girl and all around, insufferable. She was well-known around St. Vladimir's for her escapades.

The only people who seemed to have anything nice the say about her were Albert, head Guardian at the academy, who i think felt like a maternal figure toward Rosemarie. Mason Ashford, also, who seems to be under the impression that 'Rose' was a 'responsible, smart, loyal and totally protective guardian to Vasilisa and would only leave if she thought she was doing the right thing, if Lissa was in danger.' That was preposterous of course, why bring a royal Moroi princess out of a heavily protected academy and into the human world if you wanted to keep her safe?

Eddie Castile was another novice who had something nice to say. I read his interview a couple of times, it seemed pretty legit. I liked Eddie, I saw him around and he was one of the few people at the academy who actually talked to me, of course, it was no more than a 'hey, how's tricks?' But the point still stands. In his interview he went on and on saying how Rose isn't who we all thought she was, he said she was one of the nicest and most loyal people you could ever hope to meet, once you got past the smart-ass countenance. *God I hope so.* Eddie too, seemed to think Rose must have had a better reason for kidnapping the princess than just wanting to for fun and revenge. I hoped Eddie was right, not that it mattered much, Kirova would probably kick her out anyway.

The jet landed in a privet Airport outside Seattle, where all the guardians filed out and into the SUVs. I got into the one in front of our convoy, because I was leading this mission. I insisted upon driving so I wouldn't have to speak to anyone.

We set off to the college campus that the girls were living in and got there just past twelve. I had guardians posted at every street corner, alley and blind-spot for a one mile radius of the girls' house, also a flank of guardians to herd them in the right direction. When everybody was in place, it was time to wait.

* * *

**Please Read and Review and tell me if I should keep going or if I'm wasting my time. I know it's really short but i didn't have much to go on, so I promise the next chapter will be a lot longer! I'll try and put up another chapter tonight or tomorrow! **

**- Mise xoxo**


	2. Chapter 2

_**So this is chapter two, but it is chapter one of Vampire Academy. Please read and review. (: **_

_Five _hours. I have been here for five hours, standing in the shade of the damned tree, looking like some kind of pervert watching the house. I'm sure I would have fallen asleep if not for the constant chattering of the other guardians resonating in my skull through the ear piece. _God I wish they would shut up. _Like I give a fuck who Nathan and Danielle Ivashkov bang behind each-other's backs.

I heard a faint scream from inside the house and not the good kind of scream either. I took a step forward, searching for danger and at the same time trying to locate which part of the sound that blood curdling screech had come from. I saw a dark shadow sprint across the room and recognised that cape behind it as what was probably Rosemarie's hair.

Whoever it was reached her target and another shadow sat up to meet her. They embraced for what seemed like half an hour but in reality was probably only a few minutes, until someone turned on a light. Yes, I decided, it was defiantly them. I was about to tell the guardians to get ready to move in, but what I saw next can only be described as either 'kinky as fuck' or 'too fucked up for words.'

The girls seemed to debate something, and then the princess leaned down and drank from Rose. Even from where I was standing in the garden I saw the pleasure on Rose's face. She liked it, a lot apparently.

When the princess was finished she pulled away and Rose flopped on her back onto the bed and the princess rushed out of the room. I have no idea where she went, but I assumed it was to get Rose something to eat.

A cat jumped up on the windowsill then, as far away from Rose as possible, but when she noticed it looking at me, she got up and came to the window. She looked out with drug induced serenity plain on her face. I've seen that look many times back in Russia, on both myself and my friends. I was defiantly into partying when I was a kid. I was friendly, out-going, wild and happy. Until Ivan was killed.

_STOP._ This is _so_ not the time or place. I pulled myself roughly out of my own head and put up my wall and on my mask. I quickly wiped away the tears that had formed in the corner of my eyes. I would not show weakness.

I realised all too late that Rosemarie had spotted me_. 'Shit!_' I muttered to myself and retreated into the shadows once more. Understanding flashed across her face before it was quickly replaced by an odd mix of fear and determination. She ran from the room, well, tried to run, both the hour and the blood loss made her movements slow and her feet clumsy. She finally made it out of sight and I told the guardians to standby, they were going to try and make a run for it. Stupid idea, considering, but Rosemarie was a novice, it's all she could do.

We split up then, another guardian and I scouting ahead in two different directions, to cut them off if they tried to run. The rest of our group dividing into two smaller groups and going to the street corner to steer them in one of the two directions we were waiting in. Once I was in the alley we had preselected I waited, sort of hoping they came in this direction, I needed some excitement. The most exciting thing I had done in months was pull novices off of each other and wander around making sure no one was out of bed after curfew_. God I need a date._

I heard footsteps coming toward me and saw the light flash on the car at the end of the street and knew it was time to make my move. I jumped out in front of the two girls, Rose immediately going on the defence, crouching in front of Vasilissa like a Momma lion.

She screamed at us to leave them alone, and not to hurt the princess. I held up my hands, hoping to show her that I'm not a threat; apparently, she didn't see it that way, because she launched herself at me, aiming her foot at my hip. The movement was clumsy; she was defiantly out of practice. I blocked her easily, more out of reflex than conscious thought. I realised then, that I had just sent a sixteen year old, out of practice, novice plummeting towards the wet concrete, so I quickly reached out and grabbed her forearm. I think she should be glad I saved her, because from the angle she was falling at she would have landed on her hip, and it would have hurt. A lot.

I looked up into her eyes, and that's when I saw it, I don't know what 'it' was, but it made me realise that she did have a reason for taking the princess away. I could see it in her eyes, the loyalty and the concern, the sense of duty and the determination to keep the princess safe, and if I'm totally honest, I saw a little bit of myself in their; mixed up in all that bad reputation that she probably damn about, I saw the goodness in her.

I stared at her in awe, thinking through my new revelation when I noticed that she was bleeding. Then it hit me again, it wasn't some kinky shit the two of them had going on, Rose was _feeding_ her. Keeping her alive.

She must have noticed me staring at her neck and thought I was judging her because she felt her neck to see if it was bleeding then covered it quickly by shaking her hair over it. That's when I noticed her beauty; she had dark hair that hung around her face, accenting her high cheekbones and the darkness in her eyes. Her skin wasn't especially dark, but I had a feeling it would tan easily. Her lips were red and plump, she was beautiful.

Before I could finish my assessment of her because she looked into my eyes challengingly then ripped her arm from my grasp. She backed up and crouched in front of the princess again, readying herself for a fight, I worried that I shouldn't have let her go but was suddenly cut off by Vasilissa leaning in to get Rosemarie's attention.

"Rose, don't," said the princess in a voice that was both commanding and pleading. As soon as she uttered the words I relaxed a little, not really knowing why, and I could tell Rosemarie relaxed a bit too.

I waited to see if she would try anything next and she didn't, I turned to the princess and mustered up every bit of etiquette I could and bowed low, to the ground. I concentrated very hard on my accent, trying to pronounce the words as any American would when I said "My name is Dimitri Belikov." I left out my patronymic name, as I usually did, for the simple reason that my dad is an ass. "I've come to take you back to St. Vladimir's Academy."


	3. Chapter 3

**This is chapter 2 of Vampire Academy (: just saying… **

We brought the girls to the privet airport, expecting them to try to escape. On the landing strip however, the two girls were huddled together. To most people it would have looked like Rosemarie was sheltering the princess from the cold, which she probably was, but watching them I realised it was something more; Rosemarie was talking in hushed tone to the princess who was just looking into her eyes and nodding, but more than that, Rose was talking in a way that made it seem like she was answering the princesses thoughts.

It was fascinating, but remembering who these girls are, I that they were hatching an escape plan. I ordered them to be separated immediately, earning me an embarrassed glance from Vasilissa and a furious glare from Rosemarie. The look I got from Rosemarie made me feel like a 'meddling kid' from _Scooby Doo_.

I relaxed a little after take-off, knowing that there was no way they were escaping. They weren't flight-risks at this moment in time (pun intended). I took a seat next to Vasilissa, knowing that Rosemarie wouldn't try anything with the princess so close to me.

I looked at the princess and smiled, she looked terrified but had kind eyes; the greenest of greens that few royal moroi had. The Dragomir eyes. The princess clutched a bottle of water in her hands and crushed the brittle plastic.

She worked on the bottle for about 20 minutes, twisting it rhythmically, soothing herself, I think. Then she missed a beat, and I looked up at her and into her eyes, and my heart missed a beat too. Her eyes looked, if only for a second, exactly like Rosemarie's, dark as the deepest of holes that bore into your sole, then it was gone, and they were bright and green once again. Contemplating what I just saw, I leaned forward to get my book that I had tucked into the pocket of the seat in front of me, retrieved it then settled back in my seat to read.

An hour or so had come and gone, yet I hadn't gotten past the first chapter of my novel, it was a good one too, but my mind kept drifting to other places. I thought about how the princess had calmed Rosemarie down, the one sided conversation they had had, and how for just a moment I saw Rosemarie in Vasilissa's eyes.

I remembered then a fairy-tales babushka had once told me, she was my grandmother, her name was Yeva. She was a mysterious woman, but secretly she loved everyone she met, she was a гадалка (Gadalka), basically a fortune teller. She told me about two young girls who were like sisters, one was the protector and the other had magic beyond what we knew. The protector could feel what her charge felt and experience things as she did.

There were many stories like that, they told of a guardian being able to _feel_ his charge. I remember Yeva told me that one day my great love would see through the eyes of another and even as my wife she would lay with death. Of course, I was all of about six years old when she told me this, so I had no idea what any of it meant, in fact I'm still not sure, but one thing I've always known, is that the story of the two girls had something to do with Babushka's future for me.

I wondered about Rosemarie and the princess, could they be bonded like in the old stories? My curiosity grew and grew until I finally decided I had to talk to Rose, and see if my suspicions could be confirmed.

I walked to the back of the plane to where Rosemarie sat, the guardian beside her looked more than willing to be relieved from her, and quickly speed-walked up the aisle to where Vasilissa sat.

I took my seat next to this mystic girl who promptly ignored my presences, searching for a distraction and settling for staring absentmindedly out the window. We sat in silence for a while until I decided I needed to get her to talk and reveal something of herself. "Were you really going to attack all of us?" Granted, that was not the best line I had ever used, and it was a poor conversation starter, so I continued with "Doing that... Protecting her like that- it was very brave" I thought about my words, turning them over in my head, and said "_Stupid_," best not encourage her, "but still brave, why did you even try it?"

She gave me a look that was determined, but also made me feel like I was missing something painfully obvious, and then she replied, "Because I am her guardian." I debated whether to tell her that she was nothing of the sort and that Vasilissa was, in fact, my charge, but decided against it. I had a feeling that doing so would just be like asking for trouble, unnecessary and unwanted trouble at that.

Soon thereafter we landed, and I drove a car full of guardians to the Academy, since it was my mission, I had to be in the front of the convoy when we arrived. We got to the school in under an hour and made our way across campus to the administrative buildings, to the Headmistress' office. _God I hate that bitch_, but she had the power to fire my ass, so being polite and courteous was my only option.

We were more or less dragging the girls across the quad when Rosemarie came up behind me, stomping like an elephant all the way. "Hey Comrade" _Ouch!_ I would have smacked her but three simple reasons held me back:

1. The girl was a novice

2. With the exception of Strigoi and in training, I don't hit women

3. She probably didn't know what the name suggested and only heard it mentioned in connection with Russia, my homeland.

I was tired and hungry, and like most men, that meant I was _not_ happy. "You want to talk now?" I could hear the irritability in my own voice, I had been sharped than I had intended, but luckily she seemed oblivious to my mood.

"Are you taking us to see Kirova?" I wondered briefly what she would do with my answer, be it 'yes' _or_ 'no.'

I realised then that I was under scrutiny, not from the girls on either side of me but from the guardians, I suppose they have never seen me talk this much in a space of such short time. Still unable to tell why she was asking I settled for correcting her manners. "_Headmistress _Kirova"

**(A/N the next little bit has some, well no, a lot of swearing so I purposely wrote it in a way that you could skip it and not notice anything was missing, just in case you are morally against swearing. But I'm not, cause I'm Irish so I swear like a sailor ^_^ so if you want you can skip the next paragraph.)**

Yes I realise that was hypocritical considering that in my own mind I call that сука (bitch) everything ranging from мудак (asshole) to пизда (cunt). Very soon after coming here I realised that even though I'm not in Russia, a lot of people still spoke Russian, and I learned to say things in my head after getting slapped by Alberta for calling her a whore, though in English the word doesn't really have the same meaning, in Russian it is used much like the word 'fuck' in English.

**(A/N and that's the end of my vulgarity) **

"Headmistress. Whatever. She's still a self-righteous old bit-" she cut herself off as we walked through the commons to get to Kirova's office, simply because it was the shortest route, I didn't think about the hundreds of judging eyes that Rosemarie and the princess were no susceptible to. I saw a variety of emotions flit across both their faces; fear, shock, shame, anger, the list goes on. Rosemarie quickened her pace, and I saw her glance at Vasilissa worryingly, it surprised me to see that even now she was worrying about the princess' wellbeing, furthering my suspicions.

I let out an inaudible sigh of relief when we reached Kirova's office, I knocked lightly, hoping she wouldn't be in, but of course I knew better and Alberta answered the door. We filed in one my one and the girls sat down and Kirova ushered the rest of the guardians out the door, leaving myself and Alberta standing against the wall. I tried doing the whole, watching but not watching thing that we were thought to do, waiting for Kirova to start shouting.

Prince Dashkov called for Vasilissa before Kirova could start one of those lectures that she was excellent at. I don't like Victor Dashkov, he makes my skin crawl, and well, I'm not fond of most royal moroi but victor especially. He and Vasilissa had their little 'family' moment together which was growing increasingly tedious, as I mentioned before, I was _hungry! _I wished they would just shut up and let Kirova get on with it, and finally they did.

I must say, at the rate Kirova went at, it was really rather impressive, she barely stopped to breath. Rosemarie and Kirova fought for about twenty minutes straight, and it was like watching abbot and Costello arguing, Kirova would say something that Rose would contradict and vice-versa. The rest of us in the room kept silent until Rose started throwing around the word 'blood-whore.' I had to remind myself once again that she didn't have a clue what she was talking about; blood-whores are a touchy subject for me.

"They have a bond." I have no idea why I said that; this girl was, in my eyes, a bitch, but I felt the need to defend her. I watched her, trying to figure out what it was about her that made me speak up. I had changed when Ivan died, I didn't do much of anything anymore, I didn't laugh or talk much, and when I was on duty, I think I was just going through the motions, so what was it about this girl that made it different? "Rose knows what Vasilissa is thinking, don't you?" There she goes; my mouth has run off without me again.

At least one good thing was coming out of this; I had the pleasure of catching that bitch off guard. Excellent. She tried to contradict me and tell me that that was impossible and blah blah blah, but I was having none of it, I started this, may as well finish it. "It's obvious, I suspected as soon as I started watching them." Rose looked away after I said that, some emotion I couldn't quite decipher playing in her eyes. Vasilissa just looked astonished.

"This is a gift, a rare and wonderful thing." Ugh! Victor's arrogant tone was annoying me. A lot.

I wanted to tell him to be quite and mind his own business, but I settled for saying how the stories describe all the best guardians as being bonded, and of course Kirova contradicted me. I had to fight for control, trying to keep calm, as she shouted "stories that are centuries old! Surely you aren't suggesting we let her stay at the academy after everything she's done?"

I wanted to tell her that that was _exactly_ what I was suggesting but I knew if I was to get my way, and lord only knows why this was my way, I would have to agree with Kirova first, then ease her into letting Rose stay. I thought over my words carefully before carefully beginning "She might be wild and disrespectful, but if she has potential-"

Apparently Rose was either completely oblivious, stupid or had absolutely no sense of self-preservation, because she cut me off, "Wild and disrespectful?" she raged, "Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help?" Talk about biting the hand that feeds you?

"Guardian Belikov is the princess' guardian now, her _sanctioned _guardian." That won't go down well.

"You got cheap foreign labour to protect Lissa?" See, now that was just uncalled for…

It also made Kirova's point more valid, she started shouting again, making wild gestures with her hands making her look comically and animated, I had to fight to keep a straight face. "A guardian without discipline is worse than no guardian."

I tuned back in to just catch the last sentence of what she was saying, and I had the perfect response "So teach her discipline. Classes just started. Put her back in and get her training."

Then I think Rose said something but I was too caught up in the verbal tennis match between me a Kirova. I had almost won, when Kirova pulled a new point completely out of the air, "Who's going to put in the extra time? You?" _Shit! _I wasn't prepared for that one.

I tried to weasel my way out of it, but I quickly realised I was fighting a losing battle, I had a decision to make, was I willing to mentor Rose? And to why avail? What if I couldn't help her? I looked at the two girls trying to give my puppy-dog eyes, and caved. "Yes, I can mentor Rose. I'll give her extra sessions along with her normal ones."

_What have I gotten myself into? _I had to convince the old hag of a few more details, but the fight was more or less won, but this girl doesn't know when to shut the fuck up! Kirova lay out a bunch of rules that Rose had to stick to, and I pleaded with my eyes for her to just graciously except.

She looked at me, and I'm surprised she didn't hear my thoughts being screamed at her, _just accept! You're a smart girl, just shut up and nod your head! Stop fighting with her! _

I think you could probably see the weight lifted off my shoulders when she shrank back into her seat and said, almost so stubbornly it was impish, "Fine. I accept."

Thank Fuck.

**Finally! That was a long chapter! Sorry for the swearing, if anyone managed to take offence, anyway, please read and review (:**

**I forgot the last two times to mention, that I own neither the characters or plot (: **


	4. Chapter 4A

**Sorry it took me so long to write this chapter, but I've been mad busy! Anyway, please Read and Review (: xx**

Soon thereafter we left Kirova's, I was glad to be out of that room. I don't like being on the same campus as that dastardly old bitch, let alone in the same room, and Victor Dashkov's presence just made it that much worse. Kirova sent the girls straight to class, which I thought was unfair, if I was tired, they must be exhausted.

We escorted Rose to her first class, deeming Vasilissa fit enough to escort herself and not try to run away. Alberta and I walked a few feet behind Rose as she swung her hips methodically, hypnotizing me. We reached to gym and joined Rose's class, and she paled a bit, until she gathered up every ounce of bravado she had in her and searched for a familiar face, landing on Mason's freckly face.

"Hey Mason, wipe that drool off your face. If you're going to think about me naked, do it in your own time."

Now _that_ was an opening!

"This _is _my time, Hathaway. I'm leading today's session."

"Oh yeah? Huh. Well, I guess it's a good time to think about me naked, then."

Then Eddie, being the joker we all know he is, said "It's _always _a good time to think about you naked."

The three of them laughed and they kind of reminded me of what Tasha, Ivan and I had back in St. Basil's. "Да, но Tаша больше самоуважения, чем разрушать себя так." I muttered to myself, it would roughly translate as "yeah, but Tasha has more self-respect than to degrade herself like that."

I began thinking about Rose naked, before chastising myself vigorously, shaking my head and walking away. I was halfway across campus, on my way to my room for some much needed sleep when I heard Alberta's gruff voice calling for my attention.

"Belikov." _Shit! _She was going to ask me to cover another shift. I debated whether to keep walking and pretend I hadn't heard her, but decided she would know better, people rarely ever _don't _hear Alberta. "Belikov, nice job with Rose Hathaway and the princess, we hadn't even began to locate them until you worked the case." I nodded, signalling for her to continue, she gave me a look that I didn't quite understand, but continued regardless, "I know you must be tired, but I need you to work until lunchtime, you can have to rest of the day off, excluding your training with Rose, but you are excused from your nightshift tonight." I quickly nodded, this woman, frankly, terrified me, but not in a fear-for-my-life kind of way, more of a Momma's-angry-that-I -broke-her-vase kind of way.

"You will be on your normal schedule today, so that should give you about forty minutes to freshen up and get something to eat." I hadn't realised until she said it how hungry I was, and my stomach grumbled then as if in agreement. Alberta laughed and I went a deep shade of scarlet. "Go get some food Belikov." She left then, hurrying off after two moroi that were defiantly drunk, but I don't think she noticed because at that moment they were setting a tree on fire with magic.

I took off at a light jog then, determined to get some food into me before my shift started, knowing that I wouldn't be as tired or irritable with a few dozen doughnuts and/or burgers.

"Hey Dimitri!" said Melaniya, the staff chief here. A select few call me by my first name, and I think it tells something about my personality that one such person, is the woman preparing my food. "I thought I'd be seeing you around soon, I heard that you brought Rose back, but I guess it couldn't have been too hard, apparently she got the shit kicked out of her in training this morning."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Melan'yushka." I said jokingly, but the comment about Rose getting beat up unnerved me, how out of practice was she?

"Ach, Mitya, what will we do with you?" she said with a smile. She reminded me a lot of my sisters; they both had the same joking sense of humour.

"You can do anything you want with me." I said, winking at her cheekily, ok, maybe she didn't remind me of my sister _that _much…

"You are such a flirt!" she wacked me with a tea towel playfully, "Doughnuts, pizza, borscht, burgers, or spaghetti? My guess is on borscht, followed by burgers, followed by doughnuts, am I right?"

"Ah my love, you know me so well!" I loved how easy it is to talk to Karolina and be myself around her; she brought out a nostalgic side of me.

Once I had eaten I sprinted up to my room to change my clothes then went to Alto's class, and I was _not _looking forward to it, Stan is an ass. I entered the room as silently as I could ten minutes after the bell went, and my late entry went largely unnoticed, but not unnoticed enough, because Alto caught my eye and gave me his I-am-shooting-you-with-mind-bullets look. I glanced around and got a sympathetic look from Jakob, another guardian here.

I took up my position along the wall, getting ready to tune out for an hour, until I realised that Stan wasn't teaching, he was having a go at a student, _my_ student. Rose sank into her chair, and judging from her body language, she was willing the ground to open up and swallow her. But it didn't. Instead Rose got up and strolled semi-bravely to the front of the room. She turned to look at the class and that's when Stan began his real torture.

Here is a brief guide to how she looked during his torture:

2 minutes in: angry

3 minutes in: desperate

4 minutes in: angry

5 minutes in: _Very angry_

But the worst she looked was around 6 minutes in, I thought she would break down crying at that very moment. "One of them could walk right up to you and snap your pretty little neck before you even noticed him- and he probably wouldn't break a sweat doing it. You might have more speed and strength than a moroi or a human, but you are nothing, _nothing_,compared to a Strigoi. They are deadly and they are powerful. And do you know what makes them more powerful?"

That bastard. What did he know? Where did he get off torturing my Rose like that? He doesn't even have any molinja marks. My thoughts were interrupted by Rose's answer, "Moroi blood." Her voice was so quite it was less than a whisper. A single tear rolled down her left cheek, but I don't think she noticed because Stan swiftly moved on to finish his tirade.

For the rest of that class my eyes never left Rose's face, she was so vulnerable, she put on a brave face, but a blind man could see her pain. Not just sadness and guilt brought up by Stan and the last two years, but I truly saw what a damaged person she was, how flawed. I wanted to hug her and tell her that everything would be okay, bless her, but I couldn't.

I left again five minutes before the bell signalled the end of class; I knew I wouldn't be able to hold myself back if I was alone with Stan anytime soon. I half ran, half walked across to the junior campus to Ms. Carmack's class, she was an odd woman, clearly very educated, and a good teacher, provided you could follow the mad tangent she so often went off in. She was quite comical to watch too, she had auburn hair that was so curly; her head was about a foot wide, because it stood out so far on both sides of her.

Today was a particularly comical day to be in her class, she was describing a chicken, and began walking around the room clucking and flapping her arms; she always put me in a good mood. I stayed in her room for two classes until lunchtime when I could take my leave. I sprinted towards my room, practically hurdling over a bunch of kindergarteners, only stopping a few meters away from my building. I was about to enter when I saw Rose walking towards the commons and couldn't resist walking over to talk to her.

"I suppose you saw what happened in Stan's class?"

Wow, she just gets straight to the point, doesn't she? No point beating around the bush. "Yes." I answered simply.

"And you don't think that was unfair?"

I didn't really want to talk about this, I couldn't exactly tell her how angry it made me, but I also couldn't lie and tell her that I agreed, so I decided to avoid the question, and ask one of my own. "Was he right?" I asked, "Do you think you were fully prepared to protect Vasilissa?"

When she spoke next, the ashamed look on her face nearly broke my heart, knowing I was the one who put it there. "I kept her alive," was all she said.

I knew that if I was going to get her properly committed to her training I was going to have to be a dick. "How did you do fighting against your classmates today?" I asked, mentally kicking myself in the nuts at the look on her face, but I knew I had to keep going, "If you can't fight _them-_"

"Yeah, yeah I know!" she cut me off, and in my head, I really was glad that she had.

I looked down at her then and realised how badly she was limping, and pity swelled up inside me. I slowed down hoping to have the Mouse-Lion effect. "You're strong and fast by nature." I was hoping the whole flattery-gets-you-no-where thing was a myth, "You just need to keep yourself trained. Didn't you play any sports while you were gone?"

"Sure, now and then." She didn't say it in an exactly friendly way, but at least she wasn't aiming down south.

"Too much work. If I'd wanted to practice that much, I'd have stayed here."

Cop. Out.

"You'll never be able to really protect the princess if you don't hone your skills." Oh yeah, the big guns are coming out. She is going to prove herself; she is going to _want _to prove herself. "You'll always be lacking."

"I'll be able to protect to her," the venom in her voice was almost palpable. That's more like it.

"You have no guarantees of being assigned to her, you know," I felt like the world's biggest jackass saying that to her, but I knew I had to plough on, "for your field experience _or_ after graduation." And from the rumours going around she has no chance, let alone guarantee, but I didn't dare mention that. "No one wants to waste the bond- but no one wants to give her an inadequate guardian either." Low blow, I know (ha, that rhymed! And they think I don't have a sense of humour!). "If you want to be with her then you have to work for it. You have your lessons. You have me. Use us or don't. You're an ideal choice to guard Vasilissa when you both graduate- if you can prove you're worthy. I hope you will."

"Lissa, call her Lissa." Okay that was _not _the big dramatic proclamation of determination (ha, I did it again! I'm on a role.) that I had been expecting, but when she walked away from me, I saw her trying a little harder to walk as normally as possible and stick the pain.

**I've decided to stop here because the rest of this chapter I just Rose talking to Victor and Mia, so I won't bother with that, but I will add in another tiny chapter here. It might take a while though, 'cause I have school and band and shit like that, sowwy )= **

**Okay, please Read and Review, I don't own anything (: **


	5. Chapter 4B

**I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated! I have been really busy with school and stuff! Any way, I hope you like it (: please R&R**

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing far away. I half ran half fell out of my bed and into the bathroom where a pile of my clothes, and somewhere within that pile, my phone, lay on the floor. I threw the pile in the air hoping my phone would fall out. I eventually found it and answered.

"Belikov." I answered

"Belikov! Actually never mind, just answer your door I'll be outside in a second." She hung up then.

_Shit_. I heard a knock on my door then, I stumbled to the door pulling on yesterday's pants on the way. I flung the door open to see Alberta and Kirova at my door; they took one look at me and went wide eyed. I remembered then, in my haste to put of my sweats, I forgot a shirt.

In that moment, I decided, I was never going to a strip club again. The look in their eyes both disgusted and degraded me. Poor stripers. I quickly turned around and grabbed the first shirt I found. It had been lying on the floor and I'm pretty sure I had worn it about two weeks ago. I made a mental note to do the laundry soon; I was running out of jocks and socks **('jocks' is Irish slang for underwear, for those of you who don't understand the term).**

"Look," started Kirova once my chest was covered, "you are the reason Rose was allowed to stay, therefore, you are also the reason for her threatening a moroi at lunch today. Belikov, from now on, Rose is your responsibility, what she does, will reflect back on you. You are a good guardian, but you have agreed to be her mentor, so make sure she behaves. Take her under your wing if, you will." It wasn't a question. _Oh Kirova, if I had my way, I _would_ take her and she would defiantly be under me, all of me, not just my wing._ Okay, no. She is a student. No. Stop.

"Yes ma'am, I'll make sure she behaves." _Who knows, maybe she'll be a naughty girl_. Oh my Lord. Stop!

Once they had left I went back to bed only to be awakened a short time later by my phone ringing. I had intended on telling the person calling that was not a good time but once I saw who it was my mood quickly changed.

Boris Evdokimov had been my best and closest friend back in Siberia; we went to school together, lived together, and grew up together. We had very similar lives. Raised by a Dhampir mother, not so fond of our Dhampir father, three sisters and a babushka, that was our family make-up. Boris was like my brother, I told him everything.

"Borya!" I answered with a laugh.

"Dimka! How are you? I have so much news!" He said in Russian.

"I'm good, what is your news?"

"Sonya will kill me for telling you this before she does, but what the hell, she's pregnant!" Oh. My. God. "Don't tell her I told you!"

I was almost speechless. Almost. "Who is the father?" If it was that Kislyak bastard, I'd kill him. And probably her too.

"Well, I'm not going to ruin all her fun! She can tell you that bit,"

Fuck. You. "Boris," I said warningly.

"Oh look at the time, I'm sorry Mitya, I have to go!" I was getting pissed off.

"Evdokimov, if you don't tell me who the father is, right now, I will punch you so hard you will be picking teeth out of your shit for weeks."

He must have believed me because he answered me, "Kislyak," That. Bastard. I hung up the phone then without responding and went to the gym, to sweat my stress away.

**I'm sorry it's so short, but I'll try and update as soon as I can! I just have so much homework! Sob! :'( anyway, R&R!**


	6. Chapter 5A

I was in the gym, assaulting a dummy that looked eerily similar to Rolan Kislyak. I had given up on staking it about three quarters of an hour ago, when the entry wound in front of its heart grew to about the size of my fist, from being staked so many times. I had been reduced to old fashioned boxing, hopping around from toe to toe, dodging and blocking imaginary punches while at the same time landing blow after blow on the defenceless mannequin.

My shirt was soon drenched with sweat then discarded in the corner while I moved over to the speed bag. Boxing isn't exactly my favourite martial art, but when it comes to working up a sweat, it suffices. The tough skin on my bare knuckles began to bleed and my lungs were burning for more oxygen, but I pushed myself.

_The secret to getting ahead in this world is first getting started. You can't let FEAR stand in the way of your DREAMS!_ _Limits like FEARS, they are ILLUSIONS, disregard them._ _It's not talent, it's not innate ability, and it simply comes down to how hungry you are!_ _It's all for a much larger purpose than any semblance of immediate gratification provides. Reaching your goal, well that's just pure bliss!_ _Exhaustion is at that very point, where it is so painful that you just can't push anymore. That it hurts so badly, you can't even think straight. It's in reaching that point, that deep down, you know you did absolutely everything in your power. That there wasn't one more thing you could have done._ _Are you knocking on those doors of exhaustion, or are you just uncomfortable? You see, being uncomfortable is NOT exhaustion. Being uncomfortable is your mind quitting before your body. Being uncomfortable is just saying no to trying again._ _Achieving greatness happens when you're willing to do something that will kill you just to make you better. No one ever said that being successful was going to be easy. But I'll tell you one thing, it sure as heck is worth it! Hit and don't get hit. That is what you live by. Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habit. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. _

When I was younger I made up that mantra and learned it off, it is made up of quotes from many different people. I repeated that mantra in my head now, pushing myself to the edge, trying to drain the last ounce of stress and energy out of my system.

I heard the door open from the back, but I didn't bother looking behind me, having a perfect view of the room in the mirrors on the wall to my left. Celeste had entered the gym, stopping dead when she saw me, her calm demeanour faltered slightly and I saw her blush. She then, seeming to remember herself sauntered over to me, I'm not sure if she realised I had been watching her threw the mirrors, but I highly doubt it, considering she stopped half way over to me to push up her bra and smooth out her hair.

When she reached me, she turned to face me and sat on the edge of the bench-press, watching me. I grew uncomfortable under her intense gaze so I stopped boxing, and went over to get a bottle of water, giving her a chance to speak. When she didn't say anything, I walked to the rowing machine, adjusted the foot rests and just as I was about to restart my work out, she spoke.

"Dimitri," she began, "Why do you spend more time alone then with the rest of us guardians? I mean, I get if you're just quite, but rumour is that back in Russia, you were quite the ladies' man, so why not here? Where did that party boy go?" I must admit, she had balls to ask me that outright, it's not like I really cared if anyone asked or not, but most people here seem to think I'm some vicious badass, so her question surprised me.

I didn't know what to say, I mean, talking to Kirova or Alberta is one thing, but to my peer, that's a bit more challenging. Since Ivan's death, I haven't been the same, I've lost my ability to talk to people, family and Boris excluded. Being as unsure as I was, I was reminded of a quote by Dan Brown that I often recited; 'Don't show it and don't panic. Do like the ducks; on the surface stay calm, and below it paddle like hell' so that's what I did. I kept my face calm and tried to get the hell out of there.

"Ladies' man, huh? That makes me sound like a player," I said, feigning light-heartedness at my poor attempt at a joke.

"So you weren't a player, then?"

"Nope," I said, popping the 'p', "I wasn't a player… I was the champion." I gave her a wink, then quickly grabbed my shirt and left before she could regain herself and reply.

I put on my shirt as I left the building, then set off at a jog towards my room. When I got to my room I quickly stripped off and jumped in the shower, not giving it a chance to warm up, the cold water raised Goosebumps as it bounced off my boiling skin. The bell rang and I knew I had to get out and go to training with Rose, but the calming waters held me there, entrapped in the small tract that was my bathroom. After ten more minutes I managed to drag myself out of the shower and got dressed in a rush to get to the gym once more.

I knew, being the smart-ass she was, Rose would give me shit if she was there before me, so I took off at a lively pace that is, until I say her and Vasilissa chatting outside the main schooling building. I stood at a fair distance away from them, so as not to intrude, I was there for about a full five minutes, going completely unnoticed. I wasn't paying much attention to their conversation until I heard Rose saying "All right, then, we'll see how this goes. If anything goes wrong, anything at all, we leave." Shit. "No arguments," she added as the princess began to protest.

Now was definitely time to make my presence known. "Rose." I said, meaning to bark it out, but my lack of self-authority made it sound more like a question. If I wasn't so worried about what I had just heard, I would have pissed myself laughing at the look on their faces. I made sure not to let my guardian mask falter as I said "Your late for practice" urging for her to follow me as I excused us from Vasilissa's company, "Princess," I bowed, before turning my back and walking across the quad, hoping Rose would follow after me.

I was more than half way to the gym when I noticed Rose's absence. I turned around; ready to lift her over my shoulder and carry her to training if needs be, no matter how tired I was, she would train today. I saw her a few meters back, standing there, staring blankly into space with an odd mixture of anger, worry and a little bit of something else on her face. I walked over to her and told her to hurry up but she ignored me completely , I went to pick her up but she didn't notice, telling me that something was defiantly wrong, but having no idea what. I called her name and shook her for at least ten minutes, until she snapped out of it, whatever 'it' was.

She looked at me, slightly startled but with pure fury burning somewhere in her eyes, "are you alright?" I queried, expecting a smart-ass response, but what I got instead was equally as startling.

"I… yeah. I was…" she stuttered and hesitated "I was with Lissa…" _the? Fuck? _"I was in her head."

It was at this point that I figured I was going to have my work cut out for me with these two… "Her head?" '_Please tell me that this is some American idiom that I haven't heard before and you weren't actually in her head' _I added silently.

"Yeah, it's part of the bond." _Fantastic!_

Then it occurred to me, all the guardians who had these bonds seemed to have them to protect their Moroi, that's what Rose had it for, so surely there would be a reason, "Is she alright?" I asked, hoping that, for the love of god, I hadn't messed up on being her guardian before she even left the academy, I would not lose another charge.

"Yeah, she's…" then she stopped, and concentrated very hard on something off in the distance. I remember when I was little, my father came to the house and he brought me and Vika to that whore house in the back streets of Baia, where he had left Ivan, all three of us, his children, were terrified. Abe Mazur had been there, looking for one Dhampir girl in particular, and while searching for her flaming red hair, he saw us, Ivan and I were only twelve, and Vika had been no more than three. Vika was terrified; the loud music and flashing lights had her bawling in Ivan's arms while I crouched in front of them protectively. Abe came to our rescue that day, bringing us home and explaining to Mama what happened.

I'll never forget that day, Abe had told me on our way that he couldn't make our bastard of a father go away and never return; only I could. I didn't appreciate that, he was the adult, he was the one that always looked after us when Papa was around, and I wanted him to make it all better. Abe arranged for Ivan to be brought home to his mother in Novosibirsk and told Mama to call him if anything happened.

Our father arrived at the house late that night, drunk of course, he and Mama fought for hours. We all hated when that happened, we were terrified for her. Every time he came into town, he was greeted by Mama with open arms, then he was the ass he normally was, they fought, he kicked the shit out of her, left for a few days, then came back, apologised, they left for a few days and we stayed with Yeva until Mama came back bruised, swore never to go back to him again, then a few weeks later he would come back and it happened all over again.

Every time they fought, we all went into Karolina's room and huddled together on her bed and waited for Yeva or Abe to come and break it up, that, or for him to beat her so bad he had to bring her the hospital. But not this time, I couldn't let him do that again. I got up and walked out of the room, followed by Sonya, trying to calm me down, she was whispering in case they heard us, but they wouldn't, they never did. I told her to go back in and stay with Karolinochka and Vika, she did, and I crept downstairs. What I saw then made me feel so terrified and dark and angry and everything else that was dark and ferocious that no child should ever feel toward their own father, I was truly terrified. That's how I felt when I saw my mother, black and bloodied and unconscious on the floor with my father leaning over her, kicking her limp body, spitting saliva and abuse at her, not that she noticed.

"She's not in danger," came Rose's hesitant voice, pulling me out of my past and make to the situation at hand.

"Can you keep going?" I asked, she looked so fragile, I could barely believe it was the same girl that I had heard all those stories about, but hey, who am I to judge? I had a feeling that she didn't let a lot of people see her vulnerable side.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, I wondered vaguely if she heard the pain in her own voice, or not, but that didn't matter now, we had to start training, and with that, we were gone, our sights set on the gym, looming before us.

I know, I know, it's been ages since I last updated and I am so sorry about that, but I just had two weeks of exams and study before that, and it's just been hectic! Anyway, I hope you liked it, I decided to throw it up a bit, since we don't know much about Ivan and Dimitri's relationship…

Anyway, please review and tell me what you think!

xox

- Mise


	7. Chapter 5B

I had never used the term 'L.O.L.' in my life, and I never intended to, but that suddenly changed when Rose suggested I should let her off training. Laugh. Out. Loud. Though it did occur to me, that normally (not in this instance since I had just laughed outright at the audacity of it), 'M. A. S.' would make more sense given my personality and occupation. Mildly. Amused. Smirk.

The look on her face almost made me laugh harder but I tried to stop myself, feigning obliviousness and pretending to be surprised saying, "oh, you were serious?"

Just waiting to see her response, knowing it would be hilarious. She did not disappoint. She rambled on trying to use some messed up logic that didn't even make sense by my standards, so I decided to use some messed up logic of my own. "How do you feel right now? After the training you've done so far?"

"I hurt like hell."

'_You'll hurt a lot more when I'm done with you, hell, maybe you won't even be able to walk,' _I thought whilst mentally adding a wink. Winking had been one of my signature… um… moves back in Russia, girls loved it when I winked at them, though to be honest, I had no idea why. It always seemed cheeky or sleazy to me, but hey, whatever got me in their room… or their bed… or just them.

I remembered then where I was and saw Rose looking at me expectantly, waiting for an answer as I tried to remember what was going on. "You'll feel worse tomorrow." I stated, hoping that we hadn't moved past that point in conversation

"So?" _damn_, _how am I going to bullshit around this? _

"So, better jump in now while you still feel…" _er, what were we talking about again? Oh right, hurt. _"… not as bad?" I said, hoping it didn't sound like a question.

She started to protest, but I ignored her and walked into the weights room, knowing she would follow. I began demonstrating the reps I wanted her to do, more for my benefit than hers, I was _way _too tired to spar.

I pointed at the bench press, and began to instruct her, "Lie down"

_And spread your legs…OMG STOP! _

"Place your hands on the pole"

_And you can put your mouth to it too…_SO_ NOT APROPRIATE!_

"Shoulder width apart, and now lift it, bring it down over your chest,"

_Yeah, I can't see where your chest is, you're going to have to remove that shirt…DUDE! NO!_

"Hold it"

_Stroke it. NO!_

"Now, lower it. Slowly!"

_Hey, it's okay, you can go full speed if you want, I won't object. WHAT THE FUCK?_

"And push it back up…"

On and on this went and I grew more and more worried about how out of shape she was, she really hadn't practised at all in the last two years. When the hour was almost done, I showed her the stretches I wanted her to do, knowing that after today it would be a miracle if she hadn't pulled something. There was also, however, the part of me that was getting her to do stretches solely for the purpose of seeing her bend over as far as she could in those jeans.

"How'd you end up Lissa's guardian?" she asked quizzically, "You weren't here a few years ago…" _well spotted. _"Were you even trained at this school?"

_What does it matter?_ So many valiant comments popped to mind that I couldn't choose just one, so I just answered honestly, feeling weird about telling someone about my past. "No. I attended the one in Siberia."

"Whoa. That's got to be the only place worse than Montana." _What?_ I loved Siberia, it was beautiful, though she probably did think it was some kind of Artic-wasteland. Ivan made me watch 'Ice Age' once, that's probably what she was imagining. Ivan.

"After I graduated I was guardian to a Zeklos lord. He was killed recently." _WHY? Why did I just say that?_ I had absolutely no clue why I said that, I also had no clue why I wanted to tell her more about it. I guess it's true when people say 'it helps to talk about it.' "They sent me here because they needed extras on campus. When the princess turned up, they assigned me her, since I'd already been around."

She looked thoughtful for a second then some other emotion crossed her features; it was almost like anger…? "Did this lord die on your watch?" Ah, she was Worried about the princess being under my protection. _Bitch. _

"No. He was with his other guardian. I was away" Paul was getting his First Divine Liturgy (**A/N I know Dimitri is Orthodoxy, but I'm Catholic, so I have no idea if kid's get a 'first' Divine Liturgy or not, but role with it…) **so Ivan came home with me, because he is kind of his uncle too, but then our father got sick and Ivan had to go visit him, he told me to stay in Baia because he knew how much I hated that bastard, if truth be told, Ivan hated him too.

I was suddenly pulled back to the present with Rose's vain attempt to cheer me up, "Hey, did you help come up with the plan to get us back? Because it was pretty good. Brute force and all that." I saw the hope in her eyes that she had cheered me up, and even though she hadn't really, I felt almost obliged to indulge her.

I arched an eyebrow at her, which for some reason made her look impressed. Not knowing what else to say, I simply asked, "You're complimenting me on that?"

"Well, it was a hell of a lot better than the last one they tried."

"Last one?" there was no 'Last one.'

"Yeah, in Chicago, with the pack of Psi-hounds." Yeah, I don't think so…

"This is the first time we found you. In Portland." I informed her matter-of-factly.

"Um I don't think I imagined psi-hounds. Who else could have sent them? They only answer to moroi. Maybe no one told you about it."

"Maybe." I said, trying to convince myself more than her. I had been over those files so many times I could probably have recited it off by heart, there was no mention of anyone ever finding them before. "You may leave now." I told her, over-formally.

**Yes, its short I know and it's been so long since I updated but I am doing my Junior Cert. this year and it's kind of a big deal, if you don't know what that is, wiki/Junior_Certificate. **

**Deena, to answer your question, my user name is a mixture between German and Irish (I love languages ^_^) "ich bin" is German and it means "I am" and "mise" is Irish for "me". Directly translated, my username means "I am me." **

**Sorry for all the dirty jokes, I was kind of in a weird mood when I wrote this and I'll try and update really soon, I have a week off school because of Easter, so I'm going to try and get as much writing done as possible ^_^**

**~ Mise **


	8. Chapter 6

**Okay, so I didn't have my laptop for the last few days, so I wrote this on my phone then emailed it to myself, I tried to proof read it, but if there is a word that doesn't make sense, or some grammar mistakes, I'M SORRY! Oh, and I couldn't do **_**italics**_** on my phone, so I put stars around it, so if I missed one when I was correcting it… yeah… anyway, Enjoy and please review ! ^_^**

**~Mise xoxo**

I half-jogged, half-ran back to the guardian buildings after my practise with Rose. I was so tired at this point I was about to pass out, and no one wants a 6'7" muscly guy passing out in the middle of a high school. I was making my way through the lobby when a moroi named Dave called me. He was the post-master for the school.

"Hey, Belikov! You have a package; it's in the mail room."

"I thought you deliver the mail to our rooms?" I asked, inching ever closer to the door.

"It's heavy."

_You pussy assed bitch, it won't kill you to lift a fucking box up a flight of stairs_. is what I wanted to say, instead, I just said "Oh, do you want me to collect it?"

"Yeah, come with me and you and take it."

_Fuck you._ To be honest, I didn't give a damn about whatever was in that package, I just needed sleep. I guess I have a bit of a one track mind…

We walked the short distance to the mail room; thankfully it was in the same building. I signed for the package and carried it up to my room. In all honesty, it wasn't that heavy, just bulky and imbalanced. I set it down on the table and saw that it was from Russia.

I hardly ever got packages from home, unless Mama reckoned they weren't feeding me right, or Babushka was giving me some cryptic message. I opened the box and saw a small sapling Siberian Crab-apple tree, planted in an engraved bronze pot. Yup, definitely Babushka. There was a golden brown ribbon tied around the bark of the tree with a small card attached to it.

_Dimitri, my darling,_

_I saw that you have become inclined to confide in beautiful, yet belligerent flowers, so I decided to send you a tree that grows them. The flower of a crab-apple tree is among the most beautiful flowers in all of Siberia and it must fight against the harshness of Siberian weather, but if there is a good person to look after it, it must not fight as hard to keep out the harshness. Your flower is much the same, she is beautiful, but she must fight to keep out the harshness and evil of those who seem kind. You are a good person Dimitri; you must look after your flower. You must protect her, and keep confiding in the flowers, they make good listeners. _

_With love, _

_Your Grandmother, _

_Yeva Belikova. _

_P.S. Call your mother, she worries. _

_The fuck?_ I think my grandmother has lost it... _Confiding in flowers? I don't talk to plants? Whatever, I'll call in the morning and see what the fuck she is on about_, I though before stripping off my clothes and falling into bed.

I woke up at seven, need an, um, cold shower, because of a dream I had been having. Half an hour later, I was on my way to the gym. Rose was ten minutes late I had her do all the same reps as yesterday, and then some. She was _not _happy with me.

When she walked past me at the end of training, she smelt like lemons and coconuts. I had no idea how she smelt as good as she did. I mean, she had just spent an hour in the gym after two years of doing fuck all. _A Rose by any other name would smell as sweet_ crossed my mind. Rose, the flower is what Juliet meant. _The flower._

I had an hour free before my next shift so I ran back to my room as fast as I could and rang my mother.

"Dimka!" She screamed down the phone when she realised it was me.

"Privit Mama," I said politely.

"Dimka, did you get what Yeva sent you? She said she had a dream and started rambling about cheeky Roses and how she had to send you flowers and you have to protect you flowers from Royals who would take the flower's flower. God Dimka I thought she had lost it!" She said, rambling herself.

_The flower's flower? And what royals_? "Mama, could I talk to her?" I asked her. She told me to hold on, and went to get my grandmother.

When she got on the phone she was almost in hysterics. "Dimitri! My child, my blood! Dimitri, I had another dream! Dimitri, you have to save her! Dimitri, she is a warrior, but you must save her! Save her from the blood of my blood, Dimitri!" I had never seen (or heard) her like this before, it was kind of terrifying.

"Babushka, please, calm down, you're not making sense." I tried to reason with her.

"You giving me cheek boy?"

"No, Sudarynya (Ma'am)." I said, sucking up.

"Dimitri, you must save your flower's flower from the blood of my blood." _uh, what?_

"Babushka, I don't understand? What's the flower's flower?" I asked, to which she giggled. Yeah, my grandmother just giggled, well, she did the closest thing to giggling I've ever heard from her throaty voice. "Babushka? What do you mean?"

"You must save the flower's flower because it's yours to take, not the blood of my blood's." In the background I heard Sonya start laughing, then a moment later, I heard my mother laugh too.

"What's going on? Why are they laughing?" To which they laughed harder, I didn't know I was on loudspeaker.

"Dimitri, I am ashamed for you, Sonya is a bright girl, and she figured it out before you did. Think boy, think!"

"Sonya's not that bright." I stated, remembering what Boris had told me.

"… Um… What… Um… I… I-I don't know what you're talking about…" she stuttered.

"Oh no Sonya, you and Bump know exactly what I'm talking about," I said in my über-calm voice.

"Dimitri, it's my choice, I-"

"Yes Sonya, it was your choice, your stupid choice!" I told her, as quietly and calmly as possible. Some people get loud when their angry, I get quite.

"You never, _never, _said that to Karolina!" She cried.

"Sonya, you're not Karolina! Karolina never wanted to be a guardian, you did! You were! You are! You just left guarding St. Basil's because Kisl-"

"Don't!" She screamed over me.

"Oh, Mama doesn't know does she? She doesn't know that the reason your up the pole is because _somebody_ couldn't keep it in his designer jeans," I said, sarcasm thickly lacing my voice. "Mama, do you know who it is? Cause now we can _really_ talk about the blood of my blood, huh, Sonya? You know, that moroi _ублюдок (bastard)"_ I said, tormenting her, of course, we were all bastards, most of the Dhampir race was, but with Moroi, it was different.

"Dimka, what are you talking about?" asked my mother.

"Oh, ask Sonya, Mama, I have to go now." I said, about to hang up.

"Wait!" Yeva screamed, "Remember what I said! You must save the flower's flower because it's yours to take, not the blood of my blood's."

"Babushka, why must you constantly speak in riddles?" I asked her, exasperated.

"Boy, if I were to speak in riddles I'd ask you what is a raven like a writing desk, the instructions I have given you are not a riddle." She told me.

"Firstly, a raven is like a writing desk because Edgar Allen Poe wrote on both, and secondly, you didn't give me instructions, you gave me some cryptic message."

"Smart boy, now save the flower." And the line went dead.

After that train wreck of a conversation, I needed a drink, but I knew I couldn't go for the spirits that I had stashed behind a false-back I had built to go in under my desk. It's not illegal for qualified Guardians to drink, but they sure as hell don't encourage it. I try to be as responsible as I can be, but fuck it, sometimes, I just need a scotch.

Now was one of those times, but my shift would be starting soon, and once again, no one wants a 6'7" muscly guy passing out in the middle of a high school. I'm fairly sure Alberta would be able to tell if I was hammered anyway.

I went down to the art room where I spent the rest of the morning until lunch. I spent lunch on duty in the courtyard. When lunch was over I went into the cookery room.

They were cooking chocolate brownies, and when they were done, Christian Ozera gave one to me. I was surprised to say the least, but if he is anything like his aunt, I'm glad he seems to like me.

Tasha is a lovely person, but she and Ivan were so completely in love before he... Um... Died. Ivan was going to propose to Tasha, I remember he wouldn't shut the fuck up about it. I would always tease him about it, but he loved her. She didn't deserve it.

I snapped back to the present when I heard Rose's name. "Who was that girl Rose? She is hot." asked some floppy haired Moroi that was walking in front of me with his friends.

"She's Guardian Janine Hathaway's daughter, apparently they like, hate each other." answered Jesse, my nephew. Of course, he didn't know that he is my nephew, no one did except for Ivan and our father.

His father, Cecil, was Ivan's brother, my half-brother. There's a lot of brothers and half-brothers in our family, not that I really consider any of them family except for Ivan. Jesse's mother had had an affair before Jesse was born, when Cecil found out the child wasn't his, he sent him away, to live in Baia. Keeping his mother's maiden name, Kislyak… My sister is pregnant with our nephew's half-brother. Messed up, right?

"She is Guardian Hathaway's daughter? Fucking hell. Now I'm almost scared to call her bangable." _good._

"It's worth it, see the tits on her? Man, by the time I'm done with her, she won't be able to walk." said Jesse, dragging out the word "walk" that made this conversation all the more irritating.

"Yeah, good luck with that," said a small curly haired girl with a bitchy voice. Ugh, they are really pissing me off.

"What, you don't think I'm good enough Mia? I was good enough for y-" he cut himself off when he got an I-swear-to-god-if-you-keep-going-with-this-verbal- diorreah-of-yours-I'm-going-to-make-it-impossible- for-you-to-ever-have-children look.

"All I'm saying is that she talks an awful lot for someone who… you know…" according to the blank look on their faces, no, they didn't know. "…You know…" she looked at them as if it was obvious, then, to make her point clear she made a popping noise with her middle finger and her mouth. They got it.

"Seriously, Rose Hathaway, is a virgin?" asked Ralph Sarkozy.

"That's what I heard," said Mia, "so Jesse, you want to make her sweat, and drool, they the only, um, bodily fluids you're okay with?"

"Mia, she's been gone for two years, she has probably banged so many guys even Ralph can't count…you know, like four…" said Jesse, earning a chuckle from everyone but Ralph who just reddened. "Either way, I will fuck her, and she'll like it."

"And if she turns you down?" Asked mister floppy-haired-git

"She won't turn me down, and it's not like I'll give her much choice either way. Sex is sex. It like pizza, even when it's bad, it's still pretty good." He said giving Mia a wink.

"Aww, our likkle Rosie is going to have her cherry popped!" said Mia, pretending to wipe a tear from her eye. "We can give her cherry-blossoms!" That's when it clicked. Her flower. _Fucking hell. Omigod. What the fuck. No. No. No. This cannot be what Yeva was talking about. How the fuck is it mine to take? Christ_.

For the rest of the day, or rather week, I was completely zoned out, my mind still reeling. I considered going to Kirova and telling her, but what the fuck would I say? 'Hey, Kirova, you know Rose Hathaway? The student you hate but I convinced you to let her stay? Yeah, well, my occasionally psychic grandmother had a dream and she gave me a really cryptic message that I think I've figured out; so I'm accusing a royal moroi of planning to rape, and take the virginity of a Dhampir who most people would argue she is definitely _not_ a virgin. Oh, and by the way, apparently, her virginity is mine to take, not his…' yeah, that would go down great! Note the sarcasm...

**I don't really like this chapter, it's just, ugh. I don't think it worked out so well, but just review and tell me what you think? Danke ^_^**

**~ Mise xoxo**


End file.
